By Marriage

Jure uxoris (‘by right of wife’) was how a husband gained rights over his wife’s property. In the English property system before the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882, married women were legally prohibited from owning real estate, with husbands gaining the right to possess their wife’s land during the marriage. Within manorial courts, this meant that when a woman who held copyhold land married, her husband would be admitted to the tenancy in her right and would act as the recognised tenant in all manorial proceedings.